A digger got stuck in the mud in Brooklands Lake. Picture taken at 10am on February 21. Picture: Eddie Mitchell

Five Rivers, which the council contracted to dredge the lake and revitalise the attraction, has now released a statement.

It said: “On 21st February 2018 whilst undertaking dredging works on Brooklands Lake, we experienced a hydraulic system failure on our long reach excavator.

“The excavator was working in the lake margins arranging the working platform of bog mats and, whilst positioning the last mat to ensure a stable platform, the hydraulic union on the boom failed.

“Due to our extensive experience and the highly specialist nature of the work, all of our machinery runs on biodegradable oil. We had spill kits with absorbent booms and pads ready in the vicinity for an incident like this.

“The team is trained to respond quickly and efficiently and the spill kit was immediately deployed and hoses sealed to avoid excessive release of Bio-oil into the lake.

“Following immediate isolating actions, the relevant authorities were notified and the primary clean up initiated. The incident has been recorded within our robust internal management system for review to understand the reasons behind the incident.

“Whilst this is an unfortunate occurrence, it is fairly common for hoses to split or burst and something that our staff are trained with which to deal. The fact that it had happened whilst the excavator was in the lake just makes the process of clean up and repair more difficult.

“The excavator is to be repaired today, any contaminated material disposed of appropriately and we hope to be back working to full capacity within a couple of days.

“Five Rivers prides itself on being professional, environmentally aware and, more importantly, resilient on such a difficult project. This is one of the most challenging projects we have delivered to date due to the challenging ground and inclement weather conditions.

“We would particularly like to thank the local community for their continued patience and support shown to date. The gifts received from the local community, such as the shortbread provided last week, are the most welcome morale boost – thank you!”